Disney announced today that it is developing a “High School Musical 4” film — but with an entirely new set of East High Wildcats. So no Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and all the other characters we have come to know and love. (They graduated, remember?)

The franchise is also returning to television after Round 3 played out in movie theaters. According to a press release, production will begin later this year and the film will debut on the Disney Channel in 2010.

“HSM 4” will focus on a love triangle involving three students that are also caught in a cross-town rivalry between the East High Wildcats and the West High Knights.

San Mateo native Peter Barscocchini, the screenwriter on the other three movies, will also pen this script. But no word yet on whether fellow Bay Area native Kenny Ortega will return to direct.

“High School Musical” and its spin-offs have proved a lucrative global franchise since the first made-for-TV movie aired on the Disney Channel in January 2006. The first two TV films have been seen by some 300 million viewers in more than 100 nations. And the big-screen incarnation has grossed $250 million at the worldwide box office since its October 2008 release.

Teen heartthrob Zac Efron is on the short road to recovery after suffering a bit of tabloid overexposure.

New Line Cinema recently released the posters and stills from the upcoming ’17 Again’ due out mid-April. ’17 Again’ stars Efron (as the 17-year-old version of Matthew Perry’s character),
Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Matthew Perry.

In what is becoming a naughty epidemic, The Cheetah Girls singer Adrienne Bailon is the latest Disney star to be caught with her pants down when semi-nude pics were found posted on the Web over the weekend.Continue Reading →

Well they had to grow up sometime. The word is that the six main stars of Disney’s wildly successful “High School Musical” franchise — Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Monique Coleman, Corbin Bleu and Lucas Grabeel — will not return for a fourth installment. This, according to a story in USA Today.

Meanwhile, production just wrapped for their big-screen grand finale, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” due Oct. 24. And although a fourth film is in the works, no one expects the primary players to return. Continue Reading →